Describing Language
My personal point of view on Harmer’s (2007) Chapter
5
By Michael Barrantes-Solano
Pre-Service Teacher, School of English
Faculty of Social Sciences
Universidad Latina de Costa Rica
Monday, April 5, 2016
Post 250
You need to be really careful at the time to speak,
write or think in English. This language contains a lot of elements that can
vary the meaning of what we are saying and that is the main reason why we have
to know how to use this language, because it is not just about to know how to
pronounce words correctly, but it is also about how we put the words together
in a sentence.
Chapter 5, Describing Language, from Harmer’s (2007)
book is basically about how to use properly this language. The chapter states
that basically everyone who speaks the language will be able to understand the
meaning in context of different words and sentences, pointing out that this can
be the first step to start learning a second language. It is also mentioned
that there are different elements that we need to pay attention to such as
grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation, and others in order to speak correctly. For
example we need to make a good use of intonation at the time to pronounce,
because we are supposed to use different intonations at the time to state a
sentence and a question. Parts of the speech, pronouns, articles and
determiners, tenses and more are also mentioned in this chapter. Basically this
is about getting to know this language and its structure and the rules. Basically,
everything we need to know or take into account if we want to become a
bilingual person by speaking in English as we speak in our native language is
included in this chapter.
Analyzing pros and cons about the language description is
easier than is looks. Obviously pros are that we will get to the point that we
will have a full command over the language and we will even get the accent
allowing us to develop ourselves as bilingual people in the market. Becoming a
person with a full command of a second language, in this case English, is
everyone´s dream, so bottom line: paying attention to all this characteristics
can be helpful at the time to become a two-language speaker.
Some cons can be that people at the time to see this
rules and all the work it takes to manage the language, they just give up
before they even start and that will be a shame. This happens for sure in many
cases. This means that we have to look for a way to motivate these kind of
learners, so they learn the language correctly.
In conclusion reviewing all this rules and making all
the possible effort to study and use them will make the difference at the end.
We need to know how to apply all this knowledge when we use English for
communication with native people, so they can understand us and our students,
and also we do not have to ignore any of these rules because they can be a big
difference between getting a good job position and being a good professional or
being a normal person who barely speaks the language.
Reference
Harmer, J. (2007). "Learners." how to teach english. Person Longman.
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